The present invention relates to a mechanism for efficiently providing requested electronic information to an inquiring person or to an operator who orally answers questions and gives directions to inquiring persons.
Manufacturing and sales companies usually have a department, division, or unit that functions as a contact point for potential users and existing users. It receives questions, inquiries, opinions, and requests for information about products they manufacture or sell, through communications. Thus, many companies train personnel to have the skills and knowledge necessary to provide adequate information to inquiring persons. Those who satisfy certain criteria are appointed as “operators” to assist the inquiring persons.
The inquiries received by the operators through communications are miscellaneous, ranging from how to use a product to the price of a product, a shipping deadline, and complaint. Besides, recent product developments provide many diverse products designed for the same purpose. Even the products that are similar on the surface may use various different technologies and techniques. This often increases the number of product items.
For example, as to printing devices or printers, various products are manufactured and sold that use different ink delivery systems and/or head driving mechanisms for different ink colors. Consequently, company operators are required to have an extensive and in-depth knowledge of their products to assist the users in a satisfactory manner. The acquisition of such knowledge requires a reasonable training system and time. This imposes a heavy burden on people who want to be an operator and on companies with future operators.
Recently manufactured and distributed products have become more multifaceted and the life cycle of these products has become shorter. These circumstances further increase the companies' liabilities to assist their users in a satisfactory manner. In order to reduce the burden associated with operator services, sample answers may be displayed on a computer screen in front of each operator. Operators may use the sample answers while they give directions to users. However, the sample answers make the operators dependent on them. The operators may respond in a similar manner whenever they handle inquiries, regardless of whether they are received from knowledgeable users or from users with very little knowledge.
On the other hand, the improved information infrastructure of, for example, computer networks keeps users up to date. Some users have a wealth of knowledge about certain products. In such a case, automatic responses based on the sample answers may sometimes result in unnecessary waste of time for both operators and users. This tendency is particularly apparent when the operator is less knowledgeable than the inquiring user. Thus, it is desired for operators to respond differently on a case-by-case basis according to the knowledge of themselves or of users.
To provide the operators with the chance to gain a lot of practical experience, it is desirable in some cases that the operators are given user support information to be used to assist users along with other information associated with the user support information.
Furthermore, users may access a website of a company that provides information about a product they have purchased, without any help of operators. For example, a company may operate a website carrying an electronic file with information about how to avoid problems for a given product to allow users to download the file directly. In such a case, knowledgeable users can download unnecessary information if the electronic file is prepared without consideration of users' knowledge. This reduces motivation of users to access a website and download an electronic file.
The present invention is made against this background and a primary object thereof is to provide a mechanism for efficiently providing requested electronic information.